Keep an eye on this name as a candidate to become the Cardinals' next hitting coach

While we don't know for sure what the St. Louis Cardinals will do regarding the employment status of hitting coach Turner Ward following the 2024 season, it does feel like we are trending toward the club making a change at the position this offseason.

While there are internal names that make a lot of sense for the position, I would not be surprised to see St. Louis look outside the organization for a fresh set of eyes. There is also the possibility that if the club makes a managerial change, the replacement for Oliver Marmol would have influence on who they decide to hire.

Well, one name that has been heavily linked to becoming the next manager of the Cardinals (if they were to make a change there) is the club's former utilityman and bench coach Skip Schumaker. Schumaker won National League Manager of the Year in his first season with the Miami Marlins last year, and after the organization decided to go into another rebuild, it is widely expected that Schumaker will look for a new job this offseason.

What does this have to do with the hitting coach? Well, in 2023, when the Marlins surprised the world and made the playoffs, Schumaker had Brant Brown as his hitting coach, and Brown now happens to be looking for his next job in baseball as well after being fired by the Seattle Mariners after becoming their hitting coordinator and bench coach for this season.

Hold up, why would the Cardinals hire a hitting coach who was just let go of by a team that has underachieved offensively as well? That seems like a lateral move, to say the least. Aren't there better options out there?

Brown was hired by the Mariners in this new role they created so that he could help their hitters work on their philosophy and mental approach at the plate as well as mid-game adjustments, helping their hitting coach, Jarret DeHart, who focused on mechanics. But with how poorly the Mariners started offensively, Brown was dismissed from his role.

Well, we just saw the Mariners fired manager Scott Servais as well, so it may be fair to say there are bigger issues going on there beyond what a hitting coach change could fix. When you compare the names in the Mariners lineup card and the Cardinals' group of hitters, Seattle has far less to work with and I am not surprised at all that they have struggled like they have.

Brown was just on an episode of the Foul Territory podcast discussing the Mariners' decision to fire Servais, and he was asked multiple questions about his time with Seattle, why he was let go, and what he thinks has gone wrong there. It is well worth your time.

What I found most notable from this exchange was toward the end of the interview when they asked Brown if he would want to work with Schumaker again since it is likely that Schumaker will be looking for a job as well. You could tell by Brown's body language that he had thought about the reunion already, and he spoke very highly of Schumaker and made it clear that they worked very well together.

If Schumaker does become the manager of the Cardinals for 2025, which again, we have no idea if the club is actually going to move on from Marmol or not, it would make sense for Schumaker to bring in a guy that he trusts like Brown. Brown talked a lot in this interview about how he helped maximize the Marlins' talent, helping their hitters work together as buy-in collectively to a philosophy where they set aside personal stats in order to maximize run production and play situational baseball. Sounds like something St. Louis needs!

I can't honestly tell you how "good" Brown is at his job. From 2017-2022, Brown filed multiple roles with the Los Angeles Dodgers that influenced their hitting philosophy and strategies, and he got an opportunity to take those skills to both Miami and Seattle. He seemed to do "more with less" in Miami while failing to unlock Seattle's hitters (albeit in just a few months' sample size before being let go), so I'd say that overall, the results seem to be promising.

I say keep an eye on Brown's name if Ward is let go following the season, especially if the Cardinals bring in Schumaker as their manager. There is still baseball to be played this season and a lot of decisions have to be made before this becomes a real topic, but it's one worth monitoring nonetheless.